Thursday, March 08, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: predictions

I am really looking forward to the upcoming release of the 7th and final Harry Potter book. The series is very well put together, from the perspective of genre expectations. I am curious to see how Rowling will wrap her series up.

One side of me tells me that Harry has to die. He is the archetypal hero who dies for the good of the people. I think that would make for a satisfying story, and would put to rest the possibility of continuation of Harry's story (though not the other wizards in his world). But I wonder if the author of such a wildly popular series and character would be brave enough to do that these days. After all, Hollywood endings have shaped the reader's expectations as much as anything, nowadays. It would be a bold step, though very in tune with the genre traditions. I just wonder whether it will be done.

I do suspect, one way or another, that we will see Snape redeemed. Either he isn't really evil now, and has done all he has had to do in order to help Harry, and to achieve Dumbledore's ends (I suspect this is true). Or, if he is really in league with Voldemort, and has been all along, then I think we will see some scene of redemption along the way. Redemption has been too important a theme for it to be left aside here at the end.

I likewise expect to see Malfoy come into play, in a scene of he and Harry coming to some alliance, burying the past. This will mean the reunification of the 4 houses, and a new "magic" of unified power. I think that will become a key issue in the final book.

It will be exciting to see how it goes. And it would be fun to hear other predictions. I'll watch the comments section below to see them.

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